Another excellent week in the Valhalla Mountains at VMT! Christmas skiing was so good we just had to come back. No, seriously, I booked this January week a while back and we went for the Christmas Special because skiing around Vancouver looked pretty dismal at the time.
Not sure if it was me getting used to the fast snow in the trees or if we kept finding better spots or if the snow somehow fluffed up, but skiing just got better every day. And a week in sunshine isn’t all bad either, when the rest of the world is buried under a thick layer of inversions clouds – Vancouver was wet, dark and cold for 18 days!
We started with trees in Ruby, followed by steeper trees and a low angle open run on Gold Ridge the next day.
Shannon Lake - Shannon's Throat above skier #2
Shannon Lake, Rugged, Big Sister and Little Sister Trees
Avalanche below Rugged
Tuesday we ventured into Shannon Lake, where the bold (or maybe the least concerned) tested the steeps on the wide open Shannon’s Throat. The rest kept to low-angled treed glades. Although the temperatures had been around -5oC, Shannon Lake was a cold sink with -22oC.
Everybody is glad to get a ride back up to the Lodge
Wednesday’s objective was Saphire Bowl where we picked some good lines between wind-affected ridges. The way back along Ruby Ridge was somewhat challenging with a boot-pack down a difficult spot. I followed Pete and choose to drop into the steeper section of Ruby Bowl instead.
Tim and Pete on top of Ruby
Sundog over Star Saphire
Howser Tower in the Bugaboos just left of Big Sister
Ready to drop into Saphire
Only four of us visited Jasmin on Thursday, a short, sweet and steep open slope. Pete and I each put 9 nicely spooned lines in the snow. The gulley on the way out was completely covered by a huge avalanche of Big Sister. It had run full track. On outside bends of the gully stands of big trees were taken out. On trees still standing branches were broken to a height of 10 meters. Truly an awesome sight.
Making my turns on Jasmin
Ruby Bowl, Ridge and Glades
Big Avy off Big Sister
Of to Cariboo on Friday. After one run in the somewhat wind-affected alpine, we decided to explore a treed run from a minor ridge towards the main valley, which opened up into a clear cut. We called this run “Day 14” (as in 14 days without new snow). The best snow came last; knee-deep pow covered by a layer of surface hoar which made swishing noises when skied. Ski-out along the logging road was smooth in ankle-deep hoar, but interrupted by several walls of hard snow boulders where avalanches had crossed the road. Very weird.
Ruby Trees again on Saturday, back for lunch and a hot soup to the Lodge, and finally the short steep slope on Gold Ridge, where we found the possibly best snow of the week.
I wasn’t going to ski out, but Pete decided he needed some exercise before the long drive back to Vancouver, so we climbed Ruby Trees for one last time and then skied the 15 km down to Slocan Lake.
What a great week. Skiing was much better than I expected, after the huge avy cycle two weeks ago, no fresh snow and the strong inversion. Over the week we climbed almost 10.000 meters – probably a new record for us.
Another avalanche - weird snowballs and snow-boulders
Can you say: Surface Hoar?
